The climate is changing as an unintended consequence of human industrialization and consumerism. Recently some scientists and engineers have suggested climate engineering-technological solutions that would intentionally change the climate to make it more hospitable. This approach focuses on large-scale technologies to alleviate the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change. This book considers the moral, philosophical, and religious questions raised by such proposals, bringing Christian theology and ethics into the conversation about climate engineering for the first time. The contributors have different views on whether climate engineering is morally acceptable and on what kinds of climate engineering are most promising and most dangerous, but all agree that religion has a vital role to play in the analysis and decisions called for on this vital issue. Calming the Storm presents diverse perspectives on some of the most vital questions raised by climate engineering: Who has the right to make decisions about such global technological efforts? What have we learned from the decisions that caused the climate to change that might shed light on efforts to reverse that change? What frameworks and metaphors are helpful in thinking about climate engineering, and which are counterproductive? What religious beliefs, practices, and rituals can help people to imagine and evaluate the prospect of engineering the climate?
Introduction Forrest Clingerman & Kevin J. O'Brien Acknowledgments Part I: Climate Engineering and Religion Chapter 1 Playing God: Why Religion Belongs in the Climate Engineering Debate Forrest Clingerman & Kevin J. O'Brien Chapter 2 From the Garden of Eden to Eden's Gardener? Experiences from Dialogues with Religious Groups on Climate Engineering and Possible Implications for Transdisciplinarity Thomas Bruhn, Stefan Schafer, & Mark G. Lawrence Part II: Philosophical and Theological Responses to Climate Engineering Chapter 3 The Temptations of Climate Engineering Dane Scott Chapter 4 Real Presence: Process Theological Perspectives on Geoengineering the Body of God Marit Trelstad Chapter 5 Time's Arrow and Narratives of Climate Engineering Forrest Clingerman Chapter 6 Rewriting Mortality: A Theological Critique of Geoengineering and De-Extinction Stefan Skrimshire Part III: Religious Resources for Moral Discernment Chapter 7 Healing the Climate? Christian Ethics and Medical Models for Climate Engineering Laura M. Hartman Chapter 8 Stewards of Irony: Planetary Stewardship, Climate Engineering, and Religious Ethics Willis Jenkins Chapter 9 Ritual Responses to Climate Engineering Sarah E. Fredericks Chapter 10 "First Be Reconciled": The Priority of Repentance in the Climate Engineering Debate Kevin J. O'Brien Appendix Religion and Climate Engineering: Points of Consensus from Claremont Thomas Bruhn, Forrest Clingerman, Sarah Fredericks, Laura Hartman, Kevin J. O'Brien, Dane Scott, and Marit Trelstad Contributors
